Background: Cord blood gas measurements are helpful to determine the acid-base status of a neonate after delivery and can determine risk for neonatal encephalopathy. Collection usually occurs right after delivery of the infant and after the umbilical cord has been cut and clamped. The OBGYN residents are currently trained to draw cord blood for gas analysis if clinical status of the neonate is subpar, but there exist other indications for drawing cord blood to send for cord gases as recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics. This project will focus on educating residents in the various indications for collecting cord gases and encouraging a higher rate of collection in order to assess fetal condition at the time of delivery.
Methods: The Graduate Medical Education office patients who delivered in the month of September 2025 will be reviewed and the percent of patients with a cord gas analysis collected at the time of delivery will be noted. It is expected that this percentage is very low given that there exists no standard with collecting cord gases unless the neonate’s clinical status is concerning as determined by APGAR scores. Then, the project team will present a list of indications for which cord gas collection is encouraged to the residents at their weekly Didactics. The team will also continue to remind the residents with email notification. Then, the Graduate Medical Education deliveries that occur between November 2025 - January 2026 will be reviewed and the rate of collection will be obtained for that period of time. These two rates will be compared and conclusions will be drawn about how to establish a new internal standard of care.
Results: We do not have any formal results currently as we are in the data collection process but will be able to present results by the North Texas Research Forum date. Conclusions: We do not have any formal results currently as we are in the data collection process but will be able to present results by the North Texas Research Forum date.